“Parking Your Way” is Coming to Downtown Riverside
Published: 5/2/2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 2, 2023
Contact:
Phil Pitchford
Public Information Officer
951-826-5975
“Parking Your Way” is Coming to Downtown Riverside
Free, affordable, accessible and convenient downtown parking programs go into effect July 1
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – An innovative downtown parking program called “Parking Your Way” will go into effect July 1 and provide patrons with as much as 90 minutes of free parking in total per day utilizing either an on-street metered space, public parking lot or public parking garage.
Parking Your Way, approved by the City Council April 18, will use the Park Riverside app to allow patrons to manage their parking experience via their smart phone by mixing and matching free 30-minute parking in an on-street metered space and free 60-minute parking in a public parking lot or public parking garage.
Patrons who do not wish to use the Park Riverside app will still be able to pay for parking using cash or a debit/credit card by interacting with an attendant at a parking garage. On-street parking kiosks will remain.
“Parking Your Way mixes the latest innovations in technology with a traditional commitment to customer service,” Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said. “These changes will make parking downtown easier for everyone, regardless of how you choose to access the new system.”
In order to stabilize the public parking fund, some rates are being adjusted. To learn more about the new rate structure, see a demonstration video of how the Parking Your Way system will work and to sign up to be notified when the Park Riverside app is ready for download, click here.
Patrons using the app will automatically receive free parking, can pay for parking, extend parking, validate parking and pre-pay event parking. Parking Your Way makes visiting downtown Riverside more affordable, more accessible and more convenient.
The City Council approval came after the City of Riverside’s Parking Services Division conducted public surveys, hosted town hall community meetings, and met with downtown stakeholder groups over a nine-month period to determine what the public expected from the downtown parking program.
The result was a complete rebuild and refocusing of the downtown parking program, with three goals:
- Stabilize the Public Parking Fund so it’s fiscally sustainable to support the downtown parking operation and support future parking needs.
- Align the parking programs with the expectations of the downtown community and encourage more people to come downtown.
- Provide quality-of-life services in the garages by improving public safety and security, increasing facility cleanliness, and addressing deferred maintenance.
“Our City took the time to engage the community, listen to everyone’s concerns, and present a program that meets their needs,” Mayor Pro Tem Clarissa Cervantes said. “These rates ensure that our working community and small businesses in downtown won’t be negatively impacted. We have come a long way together!”
Many of the parking programs being offered like the Downtown 24/7 permits and the Discounted Employee Permit Program (DEPP) will rely heavily on the new, real-time, self-service parking systems being installed in the public parking garages. Service kiosks at the vehicle entrance/exit lanes and at the pedestrian access points will recognize a vehicle’s front license plate if an account has been established and automatically raise the entrance and exit arms allowing for faster entry and exiting.
Information on Parking Your Way, Downtown 24/7 permits and the DEPP will be on the City of Riverside’s website, on social media and on the electronic message sign adjacent to Highway 91 near the Auto Center. Downtown Riverside will receive changeable message signs along three thoroughfares and informational signs will be placed at pay stations, public parking lots and garages.
Information also will be disbursed through the Riverside Downtown Partnership, Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce, Riverside Neighborhood Partnership and other organizations.
